Incoherent Ramblings
I should've bet heavily on Zenyatta to win the BC Classic. Betting her would have been a hedge against my anticipated (and now realized) disappointment surrounding the Horse of the Year debate. Rachel Alexandra deserves to be Horse of the Year. If I had bet on Zenyatta, I'd have money in my wallet to ease the pain associated with the changing winds of the HOY debate. Of course if Z had lost I'd be poorer but the HOY would be Rachel in a landslide.
Rachel Alexandra now appears to be behind in the running for Horse of the Year despite a truly incredible campaign where she went 8 for 8 winning at 7 different tracks. Those eight wins included five Grade I wins and two Grade II wins. She won an American Classic (Preakness), beat the best of her generation of either sex and beat older horses, surviving brutal fractions to hang on by a nose in the Woodward. She won her five Grade Is by 46+ lengths. A list of the top ten performances of 2008 would include all five of her Grade I wins.
Zenyatta, on the other hand, had one big performance in the Breeders' Cup. Aside from that race her schedule was a repeat of her 2008 season - four repeat stakes wins, three of them Grade Is and all in California. It was very soft campaign and had none of the imagination of the handlers of Rachel (until the Classic). Zenyatta was a no show for her only scheduled start outside of California. Churchill Downs came up a bit muddy so they scratched. In the Breeders' Cup Classic she beat horses on an alien surface. As we have all learned, synthetic does not equal dirt or turf. Summer Bird on dirt does not equal Summer Bird on synthetic just like he wouldn't equal Summer Bird on turf. (Aside: If synthetics equal dirt then transitivity has RA > Z by two lengths since RA beat Summer Bird by 6 in the Haskell and Zenyatta beat him by 4 in the BC Classic).
So here were my thoughts on Saturday after the Classic.
Zenyatta beat the boys. Impressive win. She closed like a freight train. Looked like a typical turf race. Minor traffic issues. Excellent ride by Mike Smith. Great way to cap a career. 14 for 14. First ballot Hall of Famer for sure. Nice BC Cup moment.
What I did not expect was the post race build up of Zenyatta, crucifying of Jess Jackson, and belittling of Rachel Alexandra
Breeders' Cup President Greg Avioli - "It was an electric atmosphere for two days and Zenyatta delivered what is arguably the greatest performance in the 26-year history of the event,"
I guess this is the kind of spin that comes from someone who has overseen two bloated and failed Breeders' Cup that have not struck a note with bettors or casual fans. Mark my words, betting on the 2010 Cup at Churchill Downs will be at least 30% greater than this year. I will do my part.
The other partners in Truxton Stables, casual racing fans, had no clue the Breeders' Cup was even being run last weekend. One of them called me literally right after Zenyatta crossed the finish line in the Classic. Was he inspired by the emotion of the moment to call his horse racing buddy to talk about her great performance and compare this year's Classic to other epic races? No, he called to talk Rice Owl Football and the timing of the call was a total coincidence.
Zenyatta had every chance to leave California and prove herself off the synthetics but instead she was winning the same races she'd won the year before. And yet it is Jess Jackson who has been raked over the coals for not taking Rachel Alexandra out west. Why should he? She is a dirt horse. I suppose he should be blamed for not running her in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic or the Forego or the Grand National Steeplechase. It has been forgotten that Rachel won races at seven different tracks in five different states. This is not a case of east coast bias - Rachel ran everywhere where there was a dirt track and a Grade I race. Zenyatta never left SoCal.
I'm sick of the Breeders' Cup and how it has ruined horse racing. If this were the pre-BC 1980s perhaps we'd have seen the major players competing against one another in the Woodward, Marlboro Cup, and Jockey Club Gold Cup over a six week period. Horses back then had sustained campaigns instead of protectively being prepared for a winner take all one race championship.
And what of synthetics? I fear they will never go away. They are further segmenting a sport where champions so rarely run against one another. America is steeped in a long tradition of dirt racing. Our great champions excelled on the dirt. It is amazing that we can throw away all that tradition for the public relations gain from the unsubstantiated greater safety of synthetics. All the industry is concerned about is PR. The industry is trying to placate those who will never care about the sport much less bet any money on it. And next big issue is restricting the use of the whip? Gimme a break. (But maybe I'm wrong. The industry doesn't need care about bettors. They need to care about politicians and voters. And the politicians and voter might not want the horseys to get whipped or end up as food for some Euro. Them politicians can give the industry a slot machine monopoly so they won't have to worry about bettors like me ... Time to take a deep breath. This is another argument for another day).
Is Vale of York the winner book favorite for the Kentucky Derby after winning the Juvenile? What a frickin' joke.
I suppose I'm just old school. Give me an all dirt card. The more routes the better.
Rachel Alexandra now appears to be behind in the running for Horse of the Year despite a truly incredible campaign where she went 8 for 8 winning at 7 different tracks. Those eight wins included five Grade I wins and two Grade II wins. She won an American Classic (Preakness), beat the best of her generation of either sex and beat older horses, surviving brutal fractions to hang on by a nose in the Woodward. She won her five Grade Is by 46+ lengths. A list of the top ten performances of 2008 would include all five of her Grade I wins.
Zenyatta, on the other hand, had one big performance in the Breeders' Cup. Aside from that race her schedule was a repeat of her 2008 season - four repeat stakes wins, three of them Grade Is and all in California. It was very soft campaign and had none of the imagination of the handlers of Rachel (until the Classic). Zenyatta was a no show for her only scheduled start outside of California. Churchill Downs came up a bit muddy so they scratched. In the Breeders' Cup Classic she beat horses on an alien surface. As we have all learned, synthetic does not equal dirt or turf. Summer Bird on dirt does not equal Summer Bird on synthetic just like he wouldn't equal Summer Bird on turf. (Aside: If synthetics equal dirt then transitivity has RA > Z by two lengths since RA beat Summer Bird by 6 in the Haskell and Zenyatta beat him by 4 in the BC Classic).
So here were my thoughts on Saturday after the Classic.
Zenyatta beat the boys. Impressive win. She closed like a freight train. Looked like a typical turf race. Minor traffic issues. Excellent ride by Mike Smith. Great way to cap a career. 14 for 14. First ballot Hall of Famer for sure. Nice BC Cup moment.
What I did not expect was the post race build up of Zenyatta, crucifying of Jess Jackson, and belittling of Rachel Alexandra
Breeders' Cup President Greg Avioli - "It was an electric atmosphere for two days and Zenyatta delivered what is arguably the greatest performance in the 26-year history of the event,"
I guess this is the kind of spin that comes from someone who has overseen two bloated and failed Breeders' Cup that have not struck a note with bettors or casual fans. Mark my words, betting on the 2010 Cup at Churchill Downs will be at least 30% greater than this year. I will do my part.
The other partners in Truxton Stables, casual racing fans, had no clue the Breeders' Cup was even being run last weekend. One of them called me literally right after Zenyatta crossed the finish line in the Classic. Was he inspired by the emotion of the moment to call his horse racing buddy to talk about her great performance and compare this year's Classic to other epic races? No, he called to talk Rice Owl Football and the timing of the call was a total coincidence.
Zenyatta had every chance to leave California and prove herself off the synthetics but instead she was winning the same races she'd won the year before. And yet it is Jess Jackson who has been raked over the coals for not taking Rachel Alexandra out west. Why should he? She is a dirt horse. I suppose he should be blamed for not running her in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic or the Forego or the Grand National Steeplechase. It has been forgotten that Rachel won races at seven different tracks in five different states. This is not a case of east coast bias - Rachel ran everywhere where there was a dirt track and a Grade I race. Zenyatta never left SoCal.
I'm sick of the Breeders' Cup and how it has ruined horse racing. If this were the pre-BC 1980s perhaps we'd have seen the major players competing against one another in the Woodward, Marlboro Cup, and Jockey Club Gold Cup over a six week period. Horses back then had sustained campaigns instead of protectively being prepared for a winner take all one race championship.
And what of synthetics? I fear they will never go away. They are further segmenting a sport where champions so rarely run against one another. America is steeped in a long tradition of dirt racing. Our great champions excelled on the dirt. It is amazing that we can throw away all that tradition for the public relations gain from the unsubstantiated greater safety of synthetics. All the industry is concerned about is PR. The industry is trying to placate those who will never care about the sport much less bet any money on it. And next big issue is restricting the use of the whip? Gimme a break. (But maybe I'm wrong. The industry doesn't need care about bettors. They need to care about politicians and voters. And the politicians and voter might not want the horseys to get whipped or end up as food for some Euro. Them politicians can give the industry a slot machine monopoly so they won't have to worry about bettors like me ... Time to take a deep breath. This is another argument for another day).
Is Vale of York the winner book favorite for the Kentucky Derby after winning the Juvenile? What a frickin' joke.
I suppose I'm just old school. Give me an all dirt card. The more routes the better.
Marshall - Great thoughts on a great debate.
One thing I think that certainly needs to be discussed about the Breeders' these past two years at OSA was that there was not a single on-track injury. Love the "plastic" or hate it, you cannot argue with the fact that it has proven to be easier on these amazing animals.
I was out there this year for the races and it was REALLY hard not to get wrapped up in the Zenyatta hype - but you are right - we all seem to have VERY short memories all of the sudden. I'm not sure why we even have to compare the two ladies, why can't we just celebrate them as both being amazing race horses that happened to have come along at about the same time. You can’t argue with 14 for 14 – no matter the horse, no matter the circuit, no matter the competition, that has never been done before and is simply amazing on its own. There is no need to rehash your thoughts on Rachel, but again, what an amazing horse.
I'm not sure we'll see the likes of a Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra again for a very very long time.
Finally - Vale of York, terrible, but what I took away from the Juvy was what an amazing run Lookin At Lucky put together with a HORRIBLE trip from WAY outside. I would like to see him run on dirt a few times in this type of class, but he was VERY impressive.
All the best...
-sb
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It is good that no horse was injured on the pro-ride but remember that the three Breeders' Cups at Santa Anita on dirt were also incident free (1986, 1993, 2003).
There have been only four breakdowns on the dirt in BC races (1990 Belmont, 1992 Gulfstream, 2006 Churchill, 2007 Monmouth). That translates to 3 breakdowns for every 1000 starters. In fact the breakdown per starter rate in the BC is the same on the dirt as it is on the turf.
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People say Rachel A was ducking Zenyatta. That is a bunch of crap. Why didn't Zenyatta go to the Woodward? And I heard Jim Rome the other day talk of an East Coast bias in horse racing. Right, there is. You folks in CA have all plastic tracks. That's crap too. I would not have run Rachel there either. Take your plastic and stick it.
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What rotation would you like to see the Breeders' Cup set up on?
One year OSA, one year CD, one year BEL, one year random (MON/LS) - repeat?
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